According to The UK Innovation Report 2024 The UK is a leading global hub for scientific knowledge however falls behind in converting that knowledge into commercial success. (1) This is not a new trend, but it does provide an opportunity. What if this conversion rate can be improved?

The journey from knowledge to a commercial success forms the basis of the innovation process. Innovation being defined as a product, service, business model, or strategy that’s both novel and useful. Innovations don’t have to be major breakthroughs in technology or new business models; they can be as simple as upgrades to a company’s customer service or features added to an existing product. (2)

Innovation is important in all businesses for

• Securing future revenue
• Keeping ahead of the competition
• Being agile and ready to deal with change.

Studies reveal that when disruption hits, companies that invest in innovation outperform the market by up to 30%. (3) But 75% of organisations admit that their approach to innovation is not structured and 80% of organisations consider that their creativity and innovation training needs are not fully fulfilled. (3).

An opportunity therefore exists to get better results from innovation and that starts by considering your team’s capabilities to achieve more success. As they form the basis of the business, they have considerable amount of knowledge and ideas. Imagine the impact of refining core skills in critical thinking, lateral thinking and problem solving to improve your team’s

• Ability to pause and ask questions to gain information to focus idea generation.
• Ability to research existing resource, to establish baseline purpose and direction of ideas
• Use of play and experimentation, making connections and discovering ideas.
• Screening and selection of the best ideas, in a logical format.
• Qualification of success and progress of ideas.

From Blockbuster to Little Chef history is littered with businesses that rejected this approach. Preferring to keep doing what they had always done. Where are they know? The optimisation training programme from Sara Penrose Ltd helps you to optimise your business performance to achieve better results from innovation, by refining the core skills of your team. We’d be delighted to start a conversation on how we can help. workshops@sarapenrose.co.uk

1.The UK Innovation Report 2024, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge

2.Innovation in business: what it is & why it’s important 8th March 2022, Harvard Business School

3.Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more critical than ever, June 17, 2020, McKinsey & Company,

4.Creative Engine Project, 2021

John Henderson – Co-founder and Director

Sara Penrose Ltd

Optimising business performance by refining core skills

www.sarapenrose.co.uk

© Sara Penrose Ltd 2024